


Love Will Not Break Your Heart

by Samking



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Episode 48 Spoilers, F/M, Yeza's perspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 11:23:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17745020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samking/pseuds/Samking
Summary: Love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.Yeza misses his wife with everything he has, but he's trying to carry on for his son. But there's the mysterious packages, the Cerberus Assembly, and war looming just over the horizon keeping him from the peace he so desires.





	Love Will Not Break Your Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from Mumford and Son's After the Storm.

_“Yeza! Watch out!”_ _And then the goblins grab him, they came out of nowhere. They’re dragging him away from his wife and son. He screams in frustration as he tries to break the goblins hold on him, but there are too many. And then they grab Veth too. She can’t fight them off as easily because Luke’s in her arms. She’s trying though, his brave wife, his fighter. She’s always had such a spirit about her. He’s so lucky that she chose him. Even if no one else can see that._

The dream fades away. Memory really. He’s had too many of those since the package came. The one filled with baubles, and little trinkets, and buttons. Veth loved buttons. He has her collection still, tucked away in the jar under the bed. If he’s being honest with himself, and Yeza usually is. He doesn’t quite know what to make of the package he and his son just recently received. At first he thought it was someone’s idea of a sick joke, sending him presents that would remind him of Veth, of his wife. Someone who had hated her. Or him. Maybe both of them. 

There were plenty of people in Felderwin who had thought Veth was a little strange. He could still remember the torment of children that was aimed at her. In a way, he guessed, he had aided in it. They’re first kiss had been at the behest of a children’s game, one that the other children used to ostracize each other. They had dared him to kiss her never expecting him to go through with it. But it had given him the courage to do what he had already wanted to do. He had been observing her for a few months at that point, ducking out of her line of sight as he saw her go about town. He had been so shy. So afraid to talk to her. Not because of her reputation of being strange, but because he found her quirks to be charming. He thought her braids and freckles were cute. The small gap between her two front teeth to be beautiful when she smiled. He still found all those things about her to be beautiful, cute, and charming. And he wished everyday, with all his might that she was still here, still by his side, still being his companion, his wife, the other whole person that mixed with him. Veth had described marriage like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich once. Both peanut butter and jelly were fine on their own, they made wonderful sandwiches alone, and some people preferred it that way. But peanut butter and jelly could also come together to make a sandwich that was just as good if not better. She had slapped together the two slices of bread that contained each condiment that she was using to make her demonstration. 

Others might have found it strange using a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich to explain love. To explain her feelings about love, her thoughts about it. But Yeza loved her for it. The idea of using a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as a metaphor was so simple and yet so elegant. You didn’t need grand ideas and metaphors to talk about love, sometimes you needed something that was closer to home, something like a sandwich. 

He wanted that back.

He might be okay as a just plain peanut butter sandwich. A sandwich that could stand on its own. But he wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he wanted that sweetness to go along with the salt. Two wholes that came together to make something even better.

She would know what to do in the situation he found himself now in. Six months ago he had been approached by two elven wizards who wanted him to make a chemical made from a dodecahedron that had strange magical properties to it. The process was slow, and the one elf that had remained to oversee the project was getting impatient about the length of time it was taking. Something had happened in Zadash, and another object like the one that was currently locked in his basement had gone missing or something.

Zadash was also where the courier who had delivered that package had come from.

Quietly he padded down the hallway from his bedroom to the room on the end. The door was open, but with the small candle Yeza held he could see the faint outline of his sleeping son. His reason to keep on going most days. Yeza watched the sleeping form for a few more moments before turning away and going down the stairs to get the apothecary ready for another day. It was a bit hard splitting his days between his business and the work that the Cerberus Assembly had him doing. But he couldn’t shut down the apothecary without raising suspicion amongst the townsfolk, which was the one thing he had been ordered not to do by those Cerberus Assembly folk. He really didn’t want to be working for them either, but they hadn’t given him much of a choice, it had really been a join or die approach. 

Veth would have known what to do. She had always been a fighter. She had gotten them out of that goblin den. He had always loved her for that, her spirit. 

Yeza stood behind the little counter that he kept the cash register on, writing in his notebook as he thought about the next thing to try with the Dodecahedron. As daylight broke, he could hear Luke roaming around upstairs. “Daddy?” His little voice carried across the apothecary as Luke stood timidly on the steps. 

“I’m here.” Yeza said. Luke ran towards him, tears streaming from his eyes. “What’s wrong, Bluebell?” That had been Veth’s nickname for their son, given to him for his eyes. 

“I dreamed that you were gone.” Luke sobbed into Yeza’s shirt. Yeza picked up the young boy. “Like Moma.” 

“Shhh,” Yeza said soothingly. “It’s alright. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.” He rubbed the boy’s back as he picked Luke up. Others in Felderwin had their opinions on how much he coddled Luke, but he didn’t care. Luke had just lost his mother in a very violent manner, and he had the right to cry, and have nightmares, and grieve. “I promise.” He could feel Luke nod into his shoulder. 

He stood there for a long time in the middle of his apothecary, holding Luke to his shoulder as the little boy cried himself to sleep. He would never leave him, never. Veth would straight up murder him if he did. Then he carried the sleeping boy up to his bedroom and gently laid him down on the bed that he and Veth had once shared and let his son sleep as he lay beside him. Just marveling at how peaceful Luke looked. He could take a day off from the apothecary, he could spend a day just him and Luke. 

Quietly he pulled the jar of buttons from beneath the bed and opened it so that he could rub his fingers over the smooth wood and jade. Some were more metallic, and he was pretty sure one of the buttons was ivory. He never asked Veth where and how she got most of her collection, somethings were better not known. 

A loud knock came to the door later in the day. It scared Yeza a little because he hadn’t been expecting anyone. “Go to your room.” He told Luke as he hurried downstairs fully prepared for the wizard who would likely be at his door. 

It was a courier instead. One just like the one who had showed up at his door nearly a month ago. “I have a package and letter for one Yeza Brenatto.” The courier said.

“Uh, thank you.” Yeza said accepting the package. The brown thick paper was wrapped around something heavy that made a lot of noise when shaken. “May I ask where you are from? Where the package was sent from?”

“Zadash.” The courier said. Yeza frowned. He didn’t know anybody in Zadash so why did he keep getting packages from there. 

“Well, thank you.” Yeza said as the courier left and he turned to go back inside the apothecary, still frowning as he tried to make sense of these mysterious packages. 

He opened the note that was attached to this one first. There hadn’t been a note last time and maybe this would give him some sense as to who was sending him these baubles and things. 

_ Yeza,  _ the letter began in a handwriting Yeza could barely decipher. It reminded him of children’s handwriting, of someone who was not used to hold a pen trying to write.  _ I am so sorry that I could not come home to you. Something terrible has happened, and I am trying to fix it before I can return. I will return, I promise you. I love you and miss you and Luke very much. All my love Veth. _

It felt like some kind of sick joke.

Veth was dead. 

Why would someone do this? Yeza felt numb inside as he held the letter. He had tried to make peace with her death. It had been nearly two years since he saw her, since he kissed her as they said their goodbyes and she shoved him towards the river, towards Felderwin and she ran of in a completely different direction, hooting and hollering so she could catch the goblin’s attention. He knew it when she did that, that he would never see her again. There wouldn’t be a second escape. She was gone.

He opened the package anyway despite the desire to just throw the whole thing in the fire and watch it burn. There was some nagging thought in the back of his head, what if Veth had sent this. What if she had escaped the goblins that day and something had happened to her. What if she was alive?

It was dangerous thinking. Hope was a good thing most of the time. But not when the hope was impossible. But Yeza had never claimed to be a smart man. Veth would have disagreed with him. She was always complimenting how smart he was, how good of an alchemist he was.  He missed her so much right then.

The baubles were the first thing he noticed. There were buttons scattered about his counter suddenly, and little metal trinkets that seemed random at first, but when put in the context of Veth sending these items made sense. The items in the last package made sense as well. And then he saw the gold. A hundred gold pieces, which was nothing to sneeze at. It took Yeza a couple of good months to make that kind of money. If Veth was the one sending the packages where was she getting this kind of money? What was she doing? What was preventing her from returning home to him? To Luke?

“Daddy? What’s that?” Luke asked, he stood on the stairs again, but he was looking at the scattered contents of the package on Yeza’s counter. “Whose it from?”

“They’re uh- they’re gifts.” Yeza said, his voice choking slightly. “From somebody far away.” He picked Luke up and took him over to the stool so Luke could see. “Do you see anything you want?”

Luke picked up a little wooden carving of a halfling woman. “This one looks like Moma.” He proclaimed. The carving’s hair was in braids, and she wore a simple dress. It did in some ways look very much like Veth. 

“Okay.” Yeza said, kissing the top of his son’s head. 

“Do you think the Raven Queen lets her watch us?” Luke asked. 

“I think so.” Yeza said. “She would be very happy at how much of a smart boy you are.”

Life carried on for Yeza and Luke. No more mysterious packages came from Zadash, though Yeza couldn’t deny that his hopes had risen a little on the one month mark since the last package. But there had been nothing. He hoped, if she was the one sending them, that Veth was okay. He couldn’t help but worry a little bit. 

Progress on the Dodecahedron had gone very well, and he had been able to synthesize a small vial of something from the object. He didn’t know what it was or what it did. There had been a strange incident about a week prior when everyone started to get sluggish, that had been right around the time he had figured out how to synthesize the energy. The Cerberus Assembly was quite happy with his progress, and he hoped that meant they wouldn’t breathe down his neck so much now. 

It was late at night. Yeza wasn’t sure what he was still doing up. He fingered the note from Veth, the one claiming to be from Veth at least. He missed her so much. Things were getting better, but it just didn’t feel right without her. She would have loved the puzzle with the Dodecahedron even if she would have despised the people he worked for. 

At first he thought he was imagining the sounds of metal on metal. Of war cries and Crownsguard dying. And then he smelt the smoke. The smell of something big burning. “Luke!” He cried, rushing into his son’s room. “Luke!”

“Daddy?” The boy asked sleepily. 

“We have to go.” Yeza said picking the boy up. It was probably goblins. They hadn’t raided on this level in a while but he knew that the apothecary wasn’t safe, not if they were burning houses. As he descended down the stairs, he realized that he didn’t hear the normal squeals and sqwaks that goblins made when the attacked to intimidate their foes, instead he heard the sounds of crickets. Very loud crickets. What was that?

“I’m scared.” Luke whispered.

“I know.” Yeza said, he put the boy down in the front area of the apothecary. “I want you to go to Old Edith, I have to go get something.” The boy nodded. Yeza turned towards the basement to go get the artifact. He didn’t know what it was, but he didn’t want goblins or anything that made large cricket noises to get it. As he descended down the stairs of the basement heard Luke scream, Yeza turned and ran back up the stairs to see four figures in huge black armor entering his shop. 

They spoke in a strange language and turned towards him. One had a torch in his hands and was beginning to go around the shop and light it on fire. “Get off me!” Yeza screamed as one of the beings grabbed him. “Get off!” He swung his fist wildly. “Luke, go!” One of the figues went down the stairs into the basement as Yeza began to hear the sounds of the crowns guard coming. 

“Help!” He shouted. “They’re in here!” The armoured figures had finished setting the room alight, and Yeza couldn’t see Luke in the chaos as he was carried out of the apothecary. “Luke!” He shouted. “Luke!” The air outside was smokey, and Yeza could see other fires though he couldn’t tell which of his neighbor’s places were alight. “Let me go!” He swung wildly again, he had to get to his son. Luke had already lost a mother, he wasn’t going to let him lose his father as well. He felt something hard connect with his skull and Yeza knew no more.

When Yeza awoke he was somewhere dark and tied to something hard and moving. It felt like the armor of the beings who had broken into shop. They made cricket noises with every step forward though it didn’t seem to be anywhere near as intense as it had been in Felderwin. “Luke.” Yeza said softly hoping that his son was okay. Luke was alone without his father or mother and Yeza hated that. 

He heard something harsh and guttural and then something connected with his head again and his vision went dark. 

The next time he awoke was to water being poured down his throat. There was something tied around his eyes like a blindfold. Maybe it was a blindfold, Yeza couldn’t tell. He felt achy all over and he just wanted to return to the apothecary. To his son. “Where are you taking me?” He asked to no one in particular. 

“Gor Drahnis.” Was the response he was given. Yeza had heard of the place, or rather he’d seen it on a map. It was in Xhoras, though he didn’t know much more than that.

The next several days- weeks- it couldn’t possibly have been months could it?- passed by in similar fashion. He was tied to one of the beings who had been in his apothecary, their armor rough against his soft body, and blindfolded. He could hear the sound of some kind of creature, it sounded like borrowing, but Yeza didn’t know what it was. He was scared mostly, scared for himself, for his son. And tired. He was so tired. They let him walk around a little bit before they stopped to rest, but it was always on a lead like he was a pack animal of some kind. They would give him water and a little bit of food and then force him to lie down on the rocky tunnel to sleep. Then the cycle would repeat a few hours later. 

And then one day he felt the wind on his face, and the faint smell of something that wasn’t dirt anymore. The blindfold was never removed but he had the idea that he was in Gor Drahnis. He could hear the sounds of other people now, other occupants other than just his captors, the sounds of a city.

He was brought into a large dark chamber with a female drow dressed in blacks and dark purples sitting high above him on a dias looking down on all those before her. His blindfold was removed and he was forced to kneel before her. “Who is this?” She said in Common to one of the soldiers by her side. Presumably one who knew Common.

“This creature had one of the beacons.” The soldier hissed, his Common was heavily accented and almost guttural at times. Yeza took a deep breath and tried to steady himself. He was in the heart of the Kryn Empire, this was likely their queen in front of him. He wished desperately that there had been more information in school about other nations other than just the Empire. In Felderwin though, none of that information had been available, it wasn’t necessary. Most of the people who lived there would work in the tillage, and the world outside of that didn’t really matter. He had been a lucky one, someone who had the ability to learn alchemy and make a life for himself and his family that way. 

“You had one of our beacons?” The drow woman said turning to look at him again. “Speak, halfling!”

“Y-yes.” Yeza squeaked. “The Cerberus Assembly wanted me to use its essence.” He cringed a little bit as he spoke, he was sure he was digging a deep, deep hole for himself that he would never crawl out of and would ultimately end with his death.

“It’s essence? To do what?” The drow questioned. 

Yeza took a deep breath. He didn’t know much about what he had been doing. A lot of the research he had been given done by other alchemist before him had been in code. “To create a weapon, I think.” He admitted. “Something to help the Cerberus Assembly harness its energy.” Yeza shook his head. “I don’t know much. Everything was need to know, and most of it I didn’t need to know. I housed the Dodecahedron for my research, but I didn’t even know where it came from.” He looked up from the marble floor he had been staring at. “The elven woman who oversaw the project did say something about Dunemancy one time. But I don’t know what that is.” He didn’t even know if it was even anything relevant to the Dodecahedron or the Beacon or whatever it was called. The drow around the room began to whisper when he mentioned Dunemancy, but the queen held up her hand and all fell silent. 

“Tell me, would the weapon that the Cerberus Assembly making you create. Would it help non magical beings use Dunemancy?”

“I-I don’t know.” Yeza admitted. He had only ever produced one vial before his capture. It was locked in a chest in the basement, or it had been. The Cerberus Assembly probably had it by now. He had no idea what they were going to use it for. 

“Could you reproduce it?” The queen asked. 

“Yes, I-I think I could with the proper tools. I don’t have my notes anymore, so it might take some time just based on my memory.” Did she- did she want him to continue his experiments on the Dodecahedron?

“Good, we’ll have a lab prepared.” She waved a hand dismissively.

“Please, I just want to get home to my son.” Yeza begged. He felt his breath come short as he began to panic. They were going to keep him here, in Xhoras, locked away to continue experimenting on this object, never to see his son again. He wished he had never seen those elves, never heard of the Dodecahedron, never had anything to do with this nonsense with the war.

The blindfold was placed around his eyes again, and he began to thrash against his captors. He had to go home, he had to see his son. Luke. Luke. Luke. He was picked up, and he thrashed against that person as well, trying to break free even though he knew the effort was futile. 

And then he was placed in a dark room.

Nothing mattered anymore. Yeza sat in a corner and wept for a long time. He would never go home. He would never see his son again. His darling Luke, orphaned, first by goblins and now by Kricks. And Veth, he would see her sooner than he thought he would. That was the only thing he had now to look forward to. 

He dreamed of Veth and Luke that night. 

_ “Yeza, darling, there’s nothing to be worried about.” Veth said, coming to lean down beside his arm chair. She looked weary but happy. She smiled down at the baby in his arms. Luke was so tiny. So perfect. “The doctor came and looked at him and said he was doing well.” _

_ “I know.” Yeza said, “I just can’t help myself, Love.” _

_ “Yes, I know. You’re a constant worrier, Yeza.” Veth kissed his cheek. “But he’s healthy, and so am I. We’re going to be okay.” Yeza closed his eyes and nodded. _

He awoke to the dark, curled up in his corner. He cried for a few minutes thinking back to the dream, and to his real memories of Luke’s birth. Veth had been bedrested for a few days after Luke’s birth, and Yeza would just crawl into bed with her and place Luke on her chest and watch the miracle of mother and child. And then Veth would curl into his chest and they were happy. They talked about maybe having another child, a playmate for Luke. That dream never came to fruition though.

Then a voice appeared. It must have been through the use of magic, as Yeza couldn’t find the source, but it was the first bit of hope he’d had in ages. “I’m a friend of Veth.” The voice said, startling him at first. He had never heard the voice before, and it had been so long since anyone had said her name so fragrently in his presence. Usually it was said in whispers around him, as if the merest mention of her name in normal tones would shatter him. “We know you’ve been taken.” The voice continued. “But stay hopeful, we are looking for you. If you can, tell us where you are currently.”

Yeza wasn’t sure how he was supposed to convey a message back to the voice. He couldn’t perform magic, not at all. Did he just speak? What if he took too long to say something? Would the voice know he had spoken back. He should just speak out loud and see what happened. “I don’t know. It’s very dark. I have to be quiet.” He couldn’t tell if there were guards outside of his room or not. “But thank you.” Thank you for the hope that someone would come for him. It was only as the magic was dissipating that he realized he had forgotten to say that he didn’t know where he was in Gor Dranis. But they had to know something right? 

If they sent him another message he would tell them. He was just so tired. He curled up on himself once more and sat in the darkness. There was a small spark of hope that was building in his chest. The voice, whoever they were had mentioned Veth, had described her as a friend. Veth had had very few friends back in Felderwin, most everybody there had found her to be strange and avoided her. But the voice had called them friends, and he hoped that she truly was a friend of Veth, that whatever Veth was doing, for whatever reason his wife hadn’t returned home to him in the past two years that she had made friends.

Days went by before heard the voice again. The Krynn had set up a laboratory for him to work in. It was still a dark space, with no windows. He was probably still underground, and that wasn’t the best for halflings, the people of the earth and sun. Halflings liked to cultivate things, it was one of the reason so many of them were farmers. Down here there was no light for anything to grow. And yet Yeza harbored a spark of hope that he would be rescued. 

He was fiddling with the Dodecahedron when the same voice entered his mind. “It’s me again.” Yeza jumped back suddenly at hearing the voice again. He had certainly not been expecting her. But it was a welcome surprise nonetheless. He hadn’t been forgotten, and she had obviously gotten his last message then. “Can you let us know if you’ve been on the move?” She continued. “Or if you’re staying in the same place? Are you in the tunnel-” And then the voice cut off, as if the message itself had been cut off, or something bad had happened and she hadn’t been able to finish her sentence. He hoped nothing bad had happened.

“Uh no, they have me in a room. We haven’t been traveling underground since we got out. But they have me in the city now. Gor Dranis I mean. I’m in Gor Dranis.” Yeza could feel the magic dissipating as he spoke and he wasn’t sure how much had gone through. He hoped she was alright, he hoped Veth was alright.

He worried about her coming all this way though. She had always been more of a fighter than he was, the way she had been bullied as a child had necessitated that. But she wasn’t powerful enough to take on the entire Kryn Empire. Unless she had changed a lot since he last saw her. A vile of acid in her hands and a determined look on her face. Did Veth know if Luke was okay or not? He was almost afraid to ask the voice about his son, afraid of what the answer would be. 

The next day there are Krick mages in the lab with him going over his notes, asking questions in broken Common about what he had done in his basement. He tried to answer their questions to the best of his abilities, but he worried if he gave them too much information that they wouldn’t have any use for him, and then it wouldn’t matter if Veth was on the way or not because he would be dead.

He was standing off in a corner watching the mages examine his research when the voice appeared in his head again. “S’me ‘gain. How long were you in these tunnels, do you know? How do you feel? We’re on the way! Your wife misses you a lot. She loves-” And then the voice cut off again. Yeza wondered if there was some kind of limit on this messaging system and that was why the voice kept cutting off in these last two messages. That worried him, what if there were parts of his message that they hadn’t gotten. But they were in the tunnels so surely they knew he was in Gor Dranis. 

He wanted to convey somehow that he had no idea how long he had been in the tunnels. It had felt like a lifetime. But then there were the others in the room, and they would definitely notice if he started talking to himself. He could feel the magic begin to dissipate. “I can’t talk.” He whispered hurriedly, hoping the other occupants in the room couldn’t hear him. One of the drow looked over at him, but quickly turned back to the notes and continued to converse in whatever language they spoke over here in the Krynn Empire. 

The voice had said that Veth missed him. And he assumed that it would have continued with that she loved him as well, had the voice not been cut off. He wished he could hear it from her voice and not just through a messenger. He wished that he knew more about what was going on with her and not just assumptions that he had based on what little information he had. He wanted to hold her, to speak with her, to know everything that had happened since he last saw her.  _ Please come soon _ . He begged silently to the party that was on its way to find him. 

When the drow were done looking through his notes they took him back to the dark room. And thus began a new cycle. He would be taken out of the dark room to the laboratory where he would attempt to redo his experiments with the Beacon that he had performed earlier, while lacking much of the equipment the he’d had back in his apothecary, including the tripod that he had used to hold the Dodecahedron on. He wasn’t sure how important that was, but seeing as how everything he was doing now seemed not to work, he was beginning to think very important. Then at some point the guards would decided he was done for the day and take him back to the dark room. And then the cycle would repeat. 

The cycle happened seventeen times after his last message from the voice before anything changed. He was in the dark room when he began to hear the sounds of movement outside of the room he’d been given. The sounds of rushing guards and metal on metal. Yeza curled up in a back corner of the room, hoping that whatever was going on outside he would be left out of it. 

Then he heard her, the voice who would talk to him. “I thought there would be something more down here.” She said sounding confused. “They’re were certainly a lot of guards.”

“Yeah. Suspicious.” Another accented deeper voice said. 

“I’m here!” Yeza shouted. “Hello, can you hear me?”

“Should we ask the others if they’ve found anything?” The second voice asked, he was definitely male, though Yeza couldn’t place the accent. It didn’t sound like anything from the Empire though. 

“Hold on, I’ll cast Sending.” The first voice said. “Guys, did you find Yeza? We found an empty hallway with lots of guards. Don’t know why. Think you should come.” 

“I’m here!” Yeza shouted banging on the door to his room. “Can you hear me?”

“They said they’re on their way. They found a lab, but it was empty.” The voice said after a few moments of silence. 

“There’s something here.” A third voice said. He had a deep voice like the second voice did, but it wasn’t as accented. “I think there’s an illusion on the wall here.” And then Yeza heard the sound of something very large lightly hitting the door. 

“I’m here!” Yeza shouted. 

“There’s something here alright.” The third voice said. And then there was a slight whooshing sound.

“A door!” The original voice exclaimed. “Yeza, are you there? Can you hear us?”

“I can hear you.” Yeza said from the other side of the door. They had found him. He was going to be saved, he was going to see his wife and son again. Tears began to run down his face. 

“We need Nott to unlock the door.” She said. “Caddy, did you hear anything?”

“No, I think there’s another enchantment on the door.” The third voice said. “Opening the door might dispel it, or Caleb can.”

There were sounds of more footsteps. “What’s going on? Where’s my husband?” A very gravelly voice that sounded like Veth’s asked. 

“He’s behind that door, we think.” The second voice said. 

“Okay,” Veth said. There was the sound of the lock clicking, and a small curse being uttered. And then the door swung open and there stood Veth looking just the way she did the last time he had seen her. “Yeza.”

“Veth.” He breathed, and he felt like for the first time in two years he could breathe again. Veth was alive. She was alive and in front of him, and she looked well and hardy. He threw himself into her arms as she stood in the doorway. “You’re alive.” Her arms wrapped around his body, and she leaned her head against his. 

“I’m alive.” She whispered. 

They stood there for a few moments just holding one another. Yeza cried a little more, and Veth just continued to reassure him that she was there. “Did they hurt you?” She asked, checking him over for any signs of injury.

“No, I’m fine, Love.” He said. “Food wasn’t great, but they didn’t hurt me.” Veth snorted slightly. 

“Good.” She said, seemingly satisfied with her once over of him. Then she turned to the group behind her. “Yeza, this is the Mighty Nein. Mighty Nein, this is my husband Yeza.”

“Hello.” A blue tiefling said waving at him. She was the voice he had heard. “It's nice to meet you, Yeza. N-Veth has told us a lot about you.” Yeza chuckled, and leaned his head on Veth’s shoulder. “I’m Jester.”

“Thank you Jester, for giving me hope.” He said, wiping his tears away.

“We’re glad to see that you’re safe.” A half-orc said, he was the strangely accented one.

“Not to hurry this up, but I think we should go.” A human woman dressed in blue said a bit briskly, she was standing slightly off to the side with a human man dressed in a long coat. “The Krynn aren’t going to just let us go.”

“I’ll take Yeza.” The third voice Yeza had heard said. Yeza turned to see a very tall firbolg with gray fur and shocking pink hair lean down by him. “It is nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you as well.” Yeza said uncertainty. He had never actually met a firbolg before, though he had heard of them. The firbolg smiled, and then gently picked him up. 

“I don’t do much fighting so you should be safe with me.” He said.

“Mr. Clay will keep you safe.” Veth said as she pulled out a crossbow already loaded with a bolt. Yeza nodded and watched as his wife went to join the two humans at the edge of the group.

There wasn’t much talking as the group made their way through the Krynn dungeons where he had been kept. Veth stayed towards the front, looking for signs of dangers, the human woman in blue stayed close to her, while the human man had fallen back to be near the middle of the group. Jester walked beside him, while the half-orc stayed closer to him and Mr. Clay. Another human-looking woman walked behind them, she had a very large sword out, and looked behind them ever so often to make sure they weren’t being followed presumably. 

Every once in a while they would hear shouting, and the faint sound of  the cricket armor that the drow wore here, but they didn’t see any sign of them until they got to the tunnel entrance. A group of about twenty drow were waiting there for them. “Mr. Yeza, I think you’re going to want to hold on tight.” Mr. Clay said as Veth began to shoot crossbow bolts in the drow’s direction. 

Suddenly there was also a giant purple lollipop that was barreling through the drow opposition, and a giant cat paw that seemed to come out of the ground. What kind of friends had Veth made? They seemed so powerful to him. Suddenly a bolt of energy shot out of the hands of one of the drow and hit Veth square in the chest. “Veth!” Yeza cried out, but she remained standing and even shot off another of her bolts in the direction of the mage who had hit her.

“She’s a strong one, you’re wife.” Mr. Clay said as he slammed down his staff and a swarm of beetles emerged from it. 

“Do they live there?” Yeza asked in awe. Mr. Clay nodded. 

“It’s an ecosystem.” Mr. Clay explained. 

“It’s very interesting.” Yeza said trying to focus on anything, but the battle that was raging on in front of them. 

There were lots of swords involved and, the half orc was also sending out dark energy of his own. “Caleb, watch out!” Veth shouted as two of the drow warriors came baring down on the human man with red hair. Caleb brought up a magical shield against one of the drow, but couldn’t quite move it in time to protect himself from the other, and was suddenly stabbed through the chest. Yeza gasped as Caleb fell against the wall of the dungeon, looking very bad, and then he sent a giant fireball through the warrior that stabbed him, burning the drow away to a crip.

“I got you.” Mr. Clay said as he came over and healed Caleb with a touch. 

“Thank you Caduceus.” Caleb said softly. 

“You’re quite welcome.” Mr. Clay replied. 

“It is nice to meet you, Yeza.” Caleb said. “N-Veth was very worried about you.” Yeza chuckled slightly. Veth always wanted to put him and Luke first before herself. He hadn’t been sure it was always the healthiest approach, it had lead to the events that had separated them for four years, made him think she was dead. 

“Nott!” Jester screamed, and suddenly everything was focused on the battle again as the drow mage brought down a fiery lightning bolt down on Veth. Yeza watched as she collapsed to the floor and her face flickered for just a second before Veth’s skin turned green and her features became less halfling and more goblin.

“What?” Yeza asked gaping at the body that had once been his wife. “Veth?”

“We can explain.” Mr. Clay said, his voice still calm despite the fact that the wizard had just let off another huge fireball that had seemed to encompass the rest of the drow. “She didn’t want to alarm you.”

“Alarm me?” Yeza asked. “That’s not Veth, that’s a goblin.”

“That is Veth.” Jester said, Yeza hadn’t realized that they had gotten so close to her. She looked angry at him for claiming that the goblin was not his wife. She put her hands on the goblin’s chest and a bright flash of light emerged from it as the goblin opened her eyes.

Immediately those bright yellow eyes locked with Yeza’s. There was sadness in them, and fear. And then Caleb scooped the goblin up and cradled her in his arms. Yeza had never seen someone do that to a goblin before. It was a bit jarring. “This is a conversation we need to have somewhere safe.” Mr. Clay said, nodding towards the tunnels. 

The firbolg did something to collapse the tunnels after they entered it. It wasn’t a foolproof plan, the drow had some way of tunneling through, and Yeza figured it was only a matter of time before they would pull out whatever it was and go after them. The queen of theirs seemed very interested in the experiments he had done. They traveled in silence, which seemed unusual for the cheery bunch. Yeza stayed with Mr. Clay towards the back of the group, while the goblin- Veth? Nott?- stayed up in the front scouting a head, the wizard staying close to her. 

At some point they collectively just decided it was time to stop for the night. Yeza watched with amazement as the group worked as a well oiled machine to get ready for the night. The wizard- Caleb- made some sort of dome for them all, and then Mr. Clay made dinner while Jester chatted with the half orc and the tan human woman. The goblin stayed close to Caleb in the small hut- dome thing, he mumbled something quiet to her that seemed to reassure her when she glanced over nervously in his direction. 

Then everyone entered the hut as dinner was served, and the chatter seemed subdued, a great weight hanging over all of them. Jester kept glancing over at him, as if waiting for him to have some kind of a reaction. Yeza pointedly ignored most of them, he was sure if it came down to a fight they would take the goblin’s side, and he wasn’t much of a fighter. Mr. Clay sat down beside him, a calming presence in the confusing and very hectic day that Yeza was having. 

“I’m going to cast Zone of Truth.” Jester announced once everyone was done with supper. She looked at the goblin when she said it, who nodded. “Do you know what it is?” This question was directed at Yeza.

“No.” He admitted, he didn’t know much about magic.

“Its a spell that I can cast that will make everyone in a certain area tell the truth. Some people can shrug it off, but I don’t think Veth will, she wants you to know she’s telling the truth.” Jester explained. “This is so you can know what happened to your wife and know that’s it's true, okay.” Yeza nodded. It seemed reasonable. 

“No questions about but shaving this time, please.” the half-orc said.

“But Fjord, this is the only time I can ask that question and get a real answer out of you.” Jester said, poking him in the side. “You don’t have to answer, if you don’t want to.” The half-orc- Fjord- grumbled good naturedly, and then Yeza felt something wash over his mind. “Okay, Yeza, you may ask Veth anything.” 

Yeza nodded and looked at the goblin. “Who are you?”

“My name is Nott, I’m a goblin, but before that I was Veth, your wife, mother of our child Luke.” She said softly, her body tense, and she glanced at the human wizard who nodded at her. “I was hoping to fix this before I saw you again.”

“How- how are you a goblin? What do you mean by before you were Veth?” Yeza asked. He was glad he was sitting down because his whole body felt numb. He didn’t understand how she could be a goblin and his Veth, but Jester said she couldn't lie to him.

“When we separated, when I lead the goblins off in another direction so you could be safe, I used your vial of acid on the goblin’s leader when they caught up to me.” She said, her voice shaking less as she spoke. “They drowned me, Yeza, they killed the halfling. And then they brought me back. But I wasn’t a halfling anymore. I was this.” She gestured to herself. “I was everything they used to say about Veth, not pretty, not coordinated, not smart.” Yeza wanted to reach out and wrap his hands around her. He wanted to lash out at everyone in Felderwin who would whisper about his wife, about how she wasn’t like other halflings. 

“Veth.” He whispered and she nodded. “It is really you.”

“It’s me.” And then she let go of the wizard and flung herself in his arms and cried on his shoulders. He held her for a few minutes while she sobbed, and then she pulled away, and he wiped the tears away from her golden eyes. Her eyes used to be blue like Luke’s, and while golden eyes usually haunted his nightmares, these he found he could stomach. 

“How did you end up traveling? Adventuring?”

Veth snorted a little and looked over at Caleb again. Yeza frowned slightly wondering what about the human wizard made her feel so safe and reassured. “I got in trouble in a little village far to the south and was thrown into prison. I met Caleb there. We escaped from prison have been traveling together ever since. He’s been teaching me magic, and I have been protecting him. We met the other, aside from Caduceus in Trostenwald.” Yeza nodded, he was familiar with the town if he had never been. “We had another companion at that point, but he died, and we met Caduceus soon after.”

“You and Caleb are close.” Yeza murmured so that he hoped the others couldn’t hear him. His face flushed red a little.

“It’s not like that.” Veth said softly taking his hand into hers. She had only four fingers, and she was gentle with her long yellowish nails. “He reminds me of Luke. He’s a bright boy, and when I found him he was very alone and very scared. He’s come a long way since then.”

“The others do they know about Luke?” 

Veth nodded. “They met him briefly back in Feilderwinn. He’s in Allfield now, with Old Edith. We weren’t sure who had you at that point and we thought it might be safer for him there.” She explained.

“What do you mean who had me?”

“We went into the basement, Yeza.” Veth said. “It was ransacked, the apothecary was burned to a char. But when we into the basement we found a chest full of mostly burned paper and a tripod. But we did find some letters or notes that were still partially legible. They were written by someone from the Cerberus Assembly. One of the letters mentioned wanting you to make more of the whatever you were working on. We thought you might have taken you to Rexentraum.”

“Oh.”

“We know about the Beacon.”

“What?” How could they know about what he was working on? How did they know what it was called by the Krynn? Why did Veth seem to know more about what he was working on that he himself did? “How?”

“We came across another one.” Caleb said from across the small dome where he sat petting a cat. “In Zadash. We have both of them now.”

“B-both?” There was more than one Dodecahedron? Veth took his cheeks in between her palms.

“I can see you’re freaking out. Its okay. We’re okay. We know what we’re doing.” She said calmly. “Take a deep breath. We’ve got both of them protected by divination magic. Neither the Krynn nor the Cerberus Assembly will be able to find them.”

“I don’t know what they do exactly. But they’re very powerful.” Yeza whispered. “I worked with it for months, in the basement. I don’t even know what it’s made of alchemically. It took months to extract one vial of essence from that, and to be honest I’m not entirely sure how I did it.”

“That’s okay.” Caduceus said, putting a rather large hand on Yeza’s shoulder. “I don’t think it should be messed with.” Yeza nodded in agreement. 

“Are there any other questions that anyone would like to ask before Zone of Truth wears off?” Jester said rather loudly, and looking over at Fjord and the human woman in blue. Neither one of them would meet her eye. “Hey, Caleb!”

“Ja.” Caleb said sounding a bit resigned.

“Do you shave your arms too, cause Yasha does, and I don’t have any hair on my arms, but you have your bandages on your arms and I’d imagine it gets quite hot sometimes underneath them. And so…” The tiefling trailed off and looked at the wizard expectantly. Yeza glanced over at Veth who was silently shaking her head with a humorous expression on her face.

“Uh.” The wizard said glancing down at his bandages. He looked uncomfortable all the sudden. “No, I too do not have any hair on my arms, because of what happened.” The party fell silent, the mirth from Jester’s question fading away, and with it Yeza felt the spell fade too. 

“I’m sorry, Caleb.” Jester said quietly.

“It is alright, you did not know.” Caleb said wrapping his coat tighter around himself. Veth grabbed Yeza’s hand and pulled him over to the wizard. 

“I want you two to properly be introduced.” Veth said with a smile. “Caleb, this is my husband Yeza. Yeza, this is my boy Caleb.” Caleb gave Veth a small frown at being called her boy. 

“I am still older than you, Nottchen.” He said with a hint of humor. Yeza got the feeling that the man probably didn’t smile often, and that Veth made it her mission to make him do so as much as possible.

“Semantics.” Veth dismissed. 

“Thank you for watching out for her.” Yeza said. “For accepting her.”

“She’s is a wonderful person.” Caleb said, ruffling Veth’s hair. “And she’s kept me alive more times then I can count.” Yeza nodded in agreement. “You’re a very lucky man.”

“I know.” Veth made a humphing noise at the two of them, but looked at them both very fondly.

“I think it is time for bed, ja? We have a long day tomorrow.” Caleb announced to everyone. There was a chorus of agreement as the other members of the Mighty Nein got ready for bed as well. 

Veth pulled Yeza in close to her as she curled up by Caleb. It felt nice to have someone curl up against him again, now all they needed was Luke and Yeza’s family could be whole again. “I don’t want you to stay in Felderwin.” Veth said softly to him as they laid there in the dark. “It’s not safe. The Cerberus Assembly will be looking for you.” He could feel her bite her lip as she pressed her face into his neck. 

“To Allfeild then?” Yeza asked just as quiet, hoping not to disturb the others who were sleeping. He could hear snoring, and soft breathing. Caleb’s cat was just outside the little dome, keeping watch for them. 

“I’m not sure you’ll be safe within the Empire.” Veth admitted. “Jester’s from Nicodroanis, it might be safe there. But there’s a lot of Crownsguard there, and they are friendly with the Empire.” 

He could feel her frown as she spoke. He reached out and took her hand in his. “I don’t know how to protect you.” She admitted. “I can’t just chase the Empire away from you this time. Caleb said that these folk at the Cerberus Assembly are really dangerous. They’ve done awful things.” Yeza rolled over a little so he could press a comforting kiss to her forehead. 

“It’ll be alright.” He whispered. “We may have to leave Wildmount.”

“I can’t go with you.” She said. “I have to stay with the Nein, someone’s gotta look out for them, or they’ll all wind up dead.” Yeza nodded, he already knew that. He knew she wouldn’t leave her new family. “I have to fix this.”

“Being a goblin?”

“Yeah. It might be dangerous, Yeza, what I want to do. But it will be worth it.”

“I love you either way.” Yeza promised. “And I’ll keep Luke safe. Tal Dorei isn’t too far.” Veth nodded, and held him a little closer to her.

It wasn’t perfect, and there were so many dangers awaiting them tomorrow and in the coming weeks. His wife had been hurt terribly and cursed to be something she was not, all for protecting him and Luke. She put herself in harm's way for the ones she cared about, including himself. But he loved her for it. He loved her for all her flaws and qualities. 

It took a few more weeks to traverse the tunnels back to Felderwin. They were conscious of the fact that the Krynn were behind them, and there were dangers in the tunnels head. And then they were back in sunlight in the tillage just outside of the city he had grown up and lived in his entire life. The sun felt good on Yeza’s skin, he knew how close he had come to never feeling those rays on his skin again. They spent the night in an inn in the city, both Veth and himself disguised so they wouldn’t be recognized, and gathered up their cart to go to Allfeild. 

“Daddy.” Luke said running out of the house that he and Edith had been staying in. “You’re alive.” Yeza pulled his son into the strongest hug he could manage. 

“I’m here.” He said, kissing his son’s forehead. “I’m okay.” He reached out towards Veth who was in her hafling disguise again. “We’re okay.” 

It was hard to tell Luke about Veth, about what had happened to her. He was still so scared of goblins, but the little boy took it well. He seemed to enjoy the trip south to Nicadronis even though the closer they got to the coast the more bittersweet it seemed to Yeza. He didn’t want to leave Veth, not after he had just found her. He wanted to go back to their apothecary and have life be like it was before- before the goblins came and captured them and killed her. When their little world comprised of the two of them and their son. But Yeza knew that their apothecary didn’t even stand anymore and that both he and Veth had changed. She seemed to be able to read his mind, and she reassured him that they would be together again, that this was not a permanent separation. 

“I’ll miss you.” He whispered as he stood on the dock looking up at the ship known as the Balleater. It was Fjord’s ship as far as he understood, but none of the Nein were going to be traveling with them to Tal Dorei, they would remain in Wildmount and try to stop whatever it was the Cerberus Assembly was going to do with Dunemancy. They were going to find a way to change Veth back, and then when everything was safe, he and Luke would return and they would start their life together again.

“I’ll miss you every moment.” Veths said. “But I want you both safe.” 

“I know.” Yeza said. “I’ll write when we’ve settled down.”

“I look forward to the letter.” She promised, and then Yeza kissed the crown of her head. 

Yeza bent down and picked Luke up. “Be good for your father.” She told the boy, kissing his forehead. “Momma will come home soon.” Yeza turned and waved to the rest of the Nein who stood behind Veth watching. And then he turned back towards the ship and walked up the gangplank and to whatever awaited him and his son beyond. 

He and Luke made a home for themselves in a city in Tal Dorei called Westrunn. It was a decent sized city, and it was a good place to raise Luke while he waited for Veth to come home to them. Letters were infrequent from her, she was often in dangerous places and wouldn’t get his letters until weeks after they had arrived in Wildmount. She didn’t write much of what she was doing, but she did talk about the creatures she had seen and how powerful that the group was getting, and the newest spell she had learned. He loved every letter she sent him, the small flowers that she would fold into the letters since trinkets and baubles wouldn’t fit.

It was a quiet day in his new apothecary. Business had been slow today, Yeza didn’t mind though. Luke was at school so things were extra quiet. He found himself flipping through one of Luke’s favorite books for him to read at night  _ In the Belly of Dragons: The Legends of Scanlan Shorthalt and Vox Machina _ . It was a fantastical book mostly about the dragon attack on Tal Dorei about twenty years ago and the group of heroes who defended the land. It was really outlandish, but Luke loved it. The belly gave a small tinkle sound and Yeza looked up from the book to see a red headed human man that he barely recognized at the wizard Veth had adopted. “Caleb?”

“Uh, hallo, Yeza.” The man said nervously, Yeza felt his stomach clench. It had failed, whatever Caleb and Veth were going to do to change her form back had failed. And then there she was, standing behind Caleb. Flowers braided into her wheat colored hair, and dirty leather armour on her form, her crossbow was belted to her back. 

“Veth.” He whispered, tears coming to his eyes. 

“Yeza.” She said running to him across the shop. “I’m back.” 

 

_And love will not break your heart,_ _  
__But dismiss your fears_ _  
__Get over your hill and see, what you will find there_ _  
___With grace in your heart, and flowers in your hair

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this, I'm gonna be honest this one got out of hand while writing and took on a life of its own. Also sorry for the angsty Caleb answer to Jester's question, it was supposed to be lighthearted and funny, but Caleb likes to put a dour mood on everything.


End file.
